St. Johns River joins list of most in peril

Group cites proposed water withdrawals for giving the stream an urgent and uncertain future.

DEIRDRE CONNER

A national environmental group is calling the St. Johns River one of the most imperiled rivers in America.

Citing the threat of proposed water withdrawals in Central Florida to the river's estuarine system in Northeast Florida, American Rivers put the St. Johns on its 10 "Most Endangered Rivers" report. The report will be released today.

It is the first time the St. Johns has appeared on the list, which has been issued annually since 1985. The organization selects rivers from hundreds of nominations from around the country, highlighting waterways with the most urgent and uncertain futures.

The group is encouraging residents to contact the St. Johns River Water Management District, the agency that would grant permits to withdraw river water.

District studies indicate Central Florida counties could take 155 million gallons per day from the St. Johns, and another 100 million gallons per day from its main tributary, the Ocklawaha River. The district is already considering a request for 5.5 million gallons per day from Seminole County.

Critics of the plans say diverting such quantities of water upstream could disrupt the ecologically sensitive mix of salt and fresh water that makes the northern St. Johns home to a wide variety of aquatic plants and animals, hurting fishing, tourism and recreation.

And, they say, the St. Johns Water Management District should take stricter conservation measures before tapping the river.

The St. Johns is unique, but the solution to avoid damaging it is not, said Matthew Rice, Southeastern associate director for American Rivers.

"We see the answer to this problem as not very complicated. The answer we see is, waste less water," Rice said. He said strict water conservation measures - common in other states - are needed in fast-growing and drought-stricken Southeastern states such as Florida, where at least half of the drinking water is dumped on lawns.

Kirby Green, the district's executive director, said he took "extreme exception" to the opinion that the district and surrounding communities don't pay enough attention to water conservation. Still, he said, the debate over the river withdrawals has helped focus local governments' attention on needed conservation measures. And the district itself is vowing to get tougher on conservation after widespread criticism that it isn't doing enough.

Ultimately, Green said, conservation can't solve the need to turn to "alternative" sources of water - such as river water and seawater - to satisfy demand. The St. Johns district, which stretches roughly from Jacksonville to south of Orlando, has some of the fastest-growing counties in the state.

The St. Johns was nominated to the endangered river list by the St. Johns Riverkeeper, a private group that has contested the withdrawal plan.

Riverkeeper Neil Armingeon said he hoped the endangered designation would capture the attention of Gov. Charlie Crist, who has been active in the state's water battles with Alabama and Georgia but has remained mum on the St. Johns.

"We hope that Gov. Crist will look at this ... and it will engage him," Armingeon said.

Crist's office did not return a call to the Times-Union on Wednesday afternoon.

Rice said that protecting the health of rivers such as the St. Johns is deserving of such attention, especially as climate change threatens to raise sea levels.

"That's going to make rivers like the St. Johns even more important," he said, " to be resilient to the impact of global warming."